Potential damage received?

Just finished a game in my T32 heavy. Was killed by a Pershing. At the end in the detailed report, it says "potential damage received" 1420. I allways assumed this was the maximum damage the shells could have done to you that hit you and that typically the amount of damage you received is lower. So if my tank has 1550 hp, how did I die if my max potential damage was 1420? Even if it hit my ammo or something wouldn't/shouldn't that be reflected in the potential damage score?

potential damage received is calculated based on the average damage of a shell. not the maximum high roll of the damage roll.
So it is possible to be killed by and take 25% less potential damage than your health.

Last night I ammo racked a T71 with my T110E5. The E5 does 400hp average damage per shell. The T71 has 840 Hit Points. The T71's after battle damage report stated 'Potential Damage' 400. It does not reflect the damage done from his tank exploding.

I hate it. Just show me how much damage I received. True damage, from any source. Shell, friendly or enemy, ramming, fire etc... show me true damage received. That other number doesn't really give me any info I can parse in any meaningful way.

If I die, then I know I lost all my hps, so potential damage received becomes meaningless. Same if I survive with 100% hps.

Does anyone take that number from potential damage and use it in any fashion? Does it tell us anything that I haven't figured out?

Thanks. What I would like to see is where I was hit on the tank afterwards. There are times I could swear i am behind a building or other object when I get hit. I assume I'm just not in enough and my treads are sticking out but it would be nice to see it after.

Thanks. What I would like to see is where I was hit on the tank afterwards. There are times I could swear i am behind a building or other object when I get hit. I assume I'm just not in enough and my treads are sticking out but it would be nice to see it after.

After the battle you can watch your replays to figure that stuff out. You can slow it down and you can move the camera view around to whatever angle you want.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, do a search for how to access your replays. In short, you have to have the "enable battle recording" checked in Settings. Then your replays go in a replay folder where the game is. You need to associate that file extension with the WoT executable so it launches the game itself as the viewer.